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FRANKLIN (AP) — Two people charged in connection with a raid on a meth lab were ordered held yesterday on $500,000 bonds while fire officials continued to investigate what caused an explosion at the outset of the raid. Jeremy Clough, 31, and Rebecca Fields, 33, were charged with two felony counts each of manufacturing methamphetamine at two labs that investigators say ...

HUDSON, Fla. -- A Florida church dedicated to feeding the homeless has been destroyed in a fire. Fire rescue crews were called to the Lakeview Baptist Church in Hudson, about 45 miles north of Tampa, on Tuesday. Flames were shooting from the roof and the nearest hydrant was six blocks away. Forty firefighters battled the flames, which took about an hour ...

Stockton firefighters could soon see fewer people on a shift. A report on minimum staffing levels for the Stockton Fire Department by the San Joaquin County 2010-2011 Civil Grand Jury released Monday recommends the city reduce its staff on fire engines to three firefighters and staff and fire trucks to four. The grand jury also recommends the department create a relief ...

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Family members of a teen killed when he jumped from a moving ambulance said that the death of the autistic 16-year-old on Sunday could have been prevented. For starters, Shelley Hodge didn't want her son, Ryan Emory, released from the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute in Columbia on Feb. 6. On his discharge papers she wrote: "I, Shelly ...

WORCESTER - Scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute today demonstrated new technologies that could save the lives of firefighters trapped inside burning buildings. At WPI's annual conference on indoor location tracking for rescue workers, held in Worcester, researchers demonstrated new electronic systems that cut in half the average time needed to track down a lost firefighter. "The technology's actually better than we ...

JOPLIN, Mo. — Rod Pace, manager of the Med Flight helicopter service at St. John's Regional Medical Center, had just finished payroll paperwork Sunday evening when he decided to stay an extra 15 to 20 minutes to let the menacing weather pass. From the second floor, he watched the storm approach from the southwest, just like so many other systems. The ...

SEATTLE, WA - More than 1,000 fireworks-related injuries and fires were reported to the state fire marshal's office in 2009, according to the Washington State Patrol. It found there were 1,236 reports received last year, mostly on July 4. They included 1,036 fires and 200 injuries. Most were caused by children ages 8 to 14, according to the State Patrol. Specifically, ...

HOUSTON - An off-duty Houston firefighter died after his motorcycle was struck in San Leon by a driver who was later charged with intoxication manslaughter, authorities said Monday. Johnnie Williams, 49, was hit by a Ford pickup truck about 3:45 p.m. Sunday on FM 517 near 27th Street, said officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety. The driver of the ...

GORMAN, Calif. -- A truck carrying a prison inmate fire crew collided with a car on a narrow highway north of Los Angeles on Tuesday, killing one inmate and one person from the car and leaving a dozen people injured, authorities said. The car and truck crashed at 2:20 p.m. on Highway 138 near Interstate 4 south of Gorman, Los Angeles ...

Missouri officials said they were waiving fees and expediting highway permits to make it easier for trucks to haul relief supplies into tornado-stricken Joplin. The Missouri Department of Transportation said permits were required for out-of-state trucks and vehicles hauling wide loads; however, the permits would be issued without charge and would be given high priority for approval. The agency said in ...

PEWAUKEE - A Pewaukee man was charged with a felony Saturday after authorities said he struck a firefighter with his Mercedes-Benz while trying to drive through a traffic wreck scene. Chris A. Younger, 37, was charged with second-degree recklessly endangering safety in connection with the incident Thursday. Firefighters said he tried to drive around an area blocked by traffic cones at ...

WASHINGTON — Federal aviation officials have known for years that cockpit window heaters in some Boeing planes catch fire. But they haven't required airlines to fix the problem, even after dozens of incidents that unnerved pilots and, in many cases, forced emergency landings. Pilots have complained about heaters that burned, smoldered or sent electric currents dancing across cockpit windows since at ...

DAYTONA BEACH -- The arrest of Daytona Beach firefighter Adam Silva angered and surprised many of his colleagues; but his release from the county jail incensed TV media. It was the way Silva left the jail that made tempers rise, Volusia County officials say. The 30-year-old firefighter, arrested twice in one week -- on charges of rape and attempted rape -- ...

PORTSMOUTH - A retired firefighter has won a $200,000 lottery prize. Raynor Britt won the Powerball prize with a ticket he purchased for the Aug. 21 drawing, according to a news release from the Virginia Lottery. Britt matched the first five numbers using the birth dates of his four grandchildren, the release says. The winning numbers were 7, 10, 12, 22 ...

Two firefighters received minor injuries early this morning while battling a two-alarm blaze in Kansas City, Kan. Shortly after 11 p.m. Monday night, fire crews were called to a house fire at South Minnie Street, near Southwest Boulevard, according to fire officials. The firefighters were injured when the structure around them began to collapse. The walls of the residence fell outward. ...

According to sheriff's deputies in the St. Tammany Parish, a man was arrested yesterday and charged with the first-degree murder of Battalion Fire Chief David Smith. Local news WDSU reports that the suspect was trying to buy a Camaro from the off-duty fire chief when the exchange became heated. The fire chief was found shot to death and stuffed into a ...

FOLKSTON, Fla. -- Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Manager Curt McCasland admitted he didn't know much about swamp fires when he experienced his first: the now 148,522-acre Honey Prairie Fire. After all, McCasland just arrived in October from the Arizona desert where there's a different strategy for fighting fires. "My first reaction was to rain water on this thing," he said of ...

FORT EDWARD, NY - As a lethal fire intensified, one woman shoved an air conditioner out a window and then threw a 5-year-old boy out after it to safety, even as the blaze devoured a two-story house, killing six children. Two other adults tried in vain to rescue the children trapped inside the blazing building in a faded mill town along ...

LiTTLE ROCK — A state Forestry Commission ranger died today in a rollover accident in Lafayette County. Chris Adams, a 25-year-old firefighter, was killed when the Forestry Commission tractor-trailer he was driving overturned on Arkansas 360, about one-half mile east of its intersection with Arkansas 29 in Lafayette County. Adams was en route to check on a fire from earlier in ...

WEST PHILADELPHIA - An off-duty firefighter was killed after the motorcycle he was on collided with another vehicle, police say. The firefighter has been identified as Odell Pommells, a 7-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department. At 6:27 p.m., Ladder 6, Medic 3 and Medic 34 responded to a motor vehicle accident at the intersection of Lancaster and Wyalusing avenues. There ...